He Hopes That Time Will Render Her More Merciful (Wrangham)
Lady, if grace to me so long be lentFrom love's sharp tyranny and trials keen,Ere my last days, in life's far vale, are seen,To know of thy bright eyes the lustre spent,The fine gold of thy hair with silver sprent,Neglected the gay wreaths and robes of green,Pale, too, and thin the face which made me, e'en'Gainst injury, slow and timid to lament:Then will I, for such boldness love would give,Lay bare my secret heart, in martyr's fireYears, days, and hours that yet has known to live;And, though the time then suit not fair desire,At least there may arrive to my long grief,Too late of tender sighs the poor relief.
Words in this poem
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Hopes That Time Will Render Her More Merciful (Wrangham) is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, the various hands translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Petrarch, He Hopes That Time Will Render Her More Merciful (Wrangham), in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/he-hopes-that-time-will-render-her-more-merciful-wrangham.html, id L14482.
Form and metre
He Hopes That Time Will Render Her More Merciful (Wrangham) is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other Italian sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBAABBACDCDCD lentA · keenB · seenB · spentA · sprentA · greenB · e'enB · lamentA · giveC · fireD · liveC · desireD · griefC · reliefD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lady, if grace to me so long be lent | 10 | /˘········ |
| From love's sharp tyranny and trials keen, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Ere my last days, in life's far vale, are seen, | 10 | ·········· |
| To know of thy bright eyes the lustre spent, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The fine gold of thy hair with silver sprent, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Neglected the gay wreaths and robes of green, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Pale, too, and thin the face which made me, e'en | 10 | ·········· |
| 'Gainst injury, slow and timid to lament: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Then will I, for such boldness love would give, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Lay bare my secret heart, in martyr's fire | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Years, days, and hours that yet has known to live; | 10 | ···/······ |
| And, though the time then suit not fair desire, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| At least there may arrive to my long grief, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Too late of tender sighs the poor relief. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.